Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Lauren loved helping decorate the Christmas tree. She is fascinated by the lights and ornaments and many times we find her just standing by the tree staring at it. We are so glad we broke down and got a tree this year!

Holiday Happenings

Happy 30th Birthday, Daddy!

This past week we enjoyed a few special celebrations in honor of Geoff's birthday.

Friday night we went to a park district event called Magnificant Moonlight Night. A local Italian restaurant catered in a fabulous meal and then we had the opportunity to take a horse drawn carriage ride around the snow covered park. Lauren was very unsure at first, but then calmed down and really enjoyed the ride.

The reindeer however, were another story! Ever since I took Lauren to see Santa a few weeks ago, she is scared of people or animals she is unsure of. As you can see in this photo, the reindeer really spooked her.


On Saturday afternoon we took Lauren for her first train ride. Lauren and I have met Geoff at the train many times throughout the summer, so she knows what a train is and gets very excited when it blows its horn and cruises into the station, but she has never riden on a train before. Lauren was so excited during the entire ride.

Lauren enjoyed staring out the window the entire train ride.


We brought The Polar Express and read it to Lauren as the train traveled north.

On Sunday night we decided to go get a Christmas tree. We debated about it for a few weeks because we weren't sure how Lauren would react to the lights and ornaments, but decided to go for it today, as it's only the Christmas season a few weeks out of the year. So we went to Home Depot, the place to get trees in Chicagoland, and found ourselves a little balsam fir. We are just waiting for the branches to drop so we can decorate it tomorrow night. It fits very well in the corner between the chair and couch and hopefully out of Lauren's reach!

Teeth, Birthdays, and Cookies

As promised, a photo of all six of Lauren's teeth. Grandpa Hanson took this great photo on Thanksgiving.


Lauren loved spending time with Grammie Sue this past weekend.


We celebrated Grandpa and Daddy's birthdays.


Lauren had her first chance to decorate Christmas cookies. She ate most of the frosting and sprinkles and really liked mushing her hands in the frosting.

Thanksgiving 2009

Lauren was all dressed and ready for the Thanksgiving feast before the turkey was quite ready. So she entertained herself using her stroller. She is becoming quite the pro with this stroller now. She gets around the house very quickly and is even able to get herself unstuck if needed. On Thanksgiving morning Lauren took 10 steps by herself between Geoff and Grandma Hanson. We were all very excited!


The Thanksgiving feast! Geoff prepared almost all of the food and it was delicious.


Here's what happens if you put a whole bag of potato peels down the garbage disposal. Thank goodness Dhruba came over for dinner and was able to fix the potato peel jam so we could wash the dishes.



Looks like someone had a little too much turkey! Lauren loved all of the dishes at our Thanksgiving feast except cranberries. She still does not like fruit.



Hanging out in Grandpa's boots

Chicago Children's Museum

This morning Lauren, Aunt Stephie and I spent some time at the Chicago Children's Museum. We were able to get a discount on admission thanks to Aunt Stephie's job and had a great time!


Playing in the water. Do you like my green raincoat?


Throwing snowballs with Aunt Stephie


Climbing up the rollers


Hiding in the flower with Mommy


Looks like it's nap time!

Lauren hit another big milestone Friday afternoon! We were visiting our friends Jillian and London and were able to be a part of their play group. As Lauren was busy interacting with all of the other kids, I noticed her legs start shaking a little bit. Then she moved her left foot and then her right. HER FIRST STEPS!! I was so excited and all of the other moms clapped for Lauren too. She hasn't moved her little feet since, but I know she will again soon.

Another fun moment happened when we were in the car on our way home from shopping Thursday evening. Lauren sneezed twice and I said, "bless you." Then she made a pretend sneeze sound and I said, "bless you," again. She kept making the fake sneeze sound and I kept saying, "bless you," until she just started laughing like crazy. Needless to say, I started laughing too. All weekend long she continued fake sneezing and laughed when I said, "bless you."

I am still working on getting a picture of her 6 teeth and will post it soon.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Music Music Everywhere!

Here are a few clips of Lauren's continued interest in music. She LOVES to sing, dance, and clap to all kinds of music, as well as play her little instruments. Do we see a future percussionist?

Flower Girl

As mentioned a few weeks ago, Lauren was a flower girl in Aunt Stephie and Uncle Jon's wedding. She was fascinated by all the bubbles and enjoyed being pulled up the aisle in her red wagon by Daddy. Oh, and the gold shoes she wore in the wedding and has been fascinated with ever since are too small now. Guess I know what Lauren wants for Christmas this year!


Mini photo of the flower girl and the beautiful bride.


Rehearsing for the ride up the aisle.


Spending time with Great Gram.


Here I come!



If you want to see many other FANTASTIC photos from Steph and Jon's wedding, here's the photo link: http://www.pictage.com/706868

Happy Halloween

We had so much fun carving our huge pumpkin and trick or treating!


Wow! Do you think I could fit in this huge pumpkin?



Yup, looks like it!



Daddy's masterpiece all lit up.



But I don't want to be a flower...



Okay, if you say I look cute then I LOVE my flower costume. Especially with my gold shoes!



Trick or Treating with Mommy, Grandpa, and Uncle Jon



Waiting for the next trick or treater to come to my house.



I love playing with all of my candy!



Yea right Mommy! I will get to my candy even if you say I can't have it.

Fall Fun

Last Wednesday our little town of Highwood had a pumpkin festival. It consisted of a farmer's market, live music, hay rides, trick or treating at the businesses, and lighting over 1,000 Jack-O-Lanterns all at once. We had a great time! Here's a photo of the Jack-O-Lanterns before they were lit.


Many people have reminded me lately of the photos I took of Lauren in the leaves last year. That made me realize I should take one this year too, so before we went to the pumpkin festival last Wed I raked a quick pile of leaves and put Lauren in it. Check out the video below to see how much she likes examining each leaf.



Last Monday was one of my days off so Lauren and I took a field trip to the Morton Arboretum. What a beautiful place! It was such a perfect day we could have spent many more hours there. Lauren loved playing hide and seek with me on one of the bridges in the children's garden.

Quick Lauren update: All of a sudden Lauren is very interested in everything around her. She waves and says hi and bye to everything. She was waving and saying, "bye bye," to our house this morning as we left for school. She is pulling herself up on everything and even stands on her own for a few seconds here and there. Not only does Lauren love hugging and kissing Mommy and Daddy, but she hugs and kisses all of her dolls too. Ever since she wore her shiny gold shoes for Aunt Stephie and Uncle Jon's wedding, they are the only shoes she likes to wear. Mariah said she is very protective of them at daycare too and won't let the other kids play with them. Lauren knows where her toes and shoes are now too. She loves to give high fives and blow kisses too. I think she knows how to say, "bubble," now too. There were rain drops on the car window yesterday and she kept saying, "bubble, bubble."

Football Saturdays

Watching college football has always been an important part of fall for the Hanson family. Geoff and Lauren both sported their gear yesterday while watching Michigan and Central Michigan both win.


We taught Lauren how to signal touchdown and she loves to get involved in the excitement of the games.


Lauren was so excited to wear her Michigan bib Daddy bought for her on his business trip a few weeks ago.

Fall in Michigan

The Hanson family spent last week enjoying the fall colors in Northern Michigan. After a quick, but enjoyable trip to Kentucky for Laura's wedding, we traveled to my parent's cabin to prepare for Steph's wedding last weekend. More to come about that later, but for now enjoy these photos of the fall colors.



Here is a photo from our trip last year. This is now one of my favorite photos of Lauren and me.


Last week we took a drive and after about 45 minutes found the same scenic overlook. I can't only help but notice the change in Lauren over the past year, but the difference in the colors as well. I guess we were about a week earlier this year.

Pumpkin Patch Time!

I have always loved photos of babies with pumpkins. We tried last year, but Lauren could barely keep her eyes open, let alone climb on pumpkins. Last Monday, on Lauren's actual birthday, just the two of us took a trip to a local pumpkin patch. Because it was a Monday afternoon, we were one of only three groups of people there. That's unheard of around here and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The weather was perfect to take a hayride and climb on pumpkins.

Lauren loved climbing over the pumpkins.




Lauren and I went to her 1 year check-up last Friday. Dr. Siegel was very happy with Lauren's progress. She currently weighs 21 lbs 6 oz and is almost 29 inches long. She got more vaccinations, along with the first dose of the seasonal flu shot. The shots and blood test did not make her happy, but she loved picking out her puppy sticker at the end of the appointment. She is currently amazed by all animals, but especially doggies.